If she spoke to a man at a social gathering, he questioned her afterward.
He criticized the clothes she wore and complained when she spent too long talking on the telephone.
Whenever she objected, he reminded her of everything he had provided.
“This is my house,” he would tell her. “You have everything you need. Why are you making trouble?”
Anna said she learned to apologize even when she had done nothing wrong.
She began choosing her words carefully, measuring every response against the possibility of making him angry.
Then, one evening, he struck her for the first time.
She had been visiting her mother and returned later than he expected.
He accused her of deliberately disrespecting him.
When she tried to explain, he slapped her so hard that she fell against a table.
The next morning, he arrived with flowers.
He cried.
He said he had been under pressure at work. He promised that it would never happen again.
